The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-02-12
OLD BEN BUTLER.
His Course in the Forty-Third
Congress and Desperate Attempt
to Pass the Force Bill.
The Thrust at Blaine That Was Prophetic
OF tho Mulligan Letters.
JomNYoUNG BROWNS INyEcTIvE.


Especial Cor. of The Louisville Times.l
WASHINGTON, Jan. 25.-One OF the
most bitter struggles in parliamentary
history occurred during the last ses-
sion Of the Forty-Third Congress
when Benjamin r. Butler pressed the
passage of the famous Supplemental,
Civil Rights Bill or Force Bill, as it
was usually called. The contest be-
gan In December and ended in March,
and was characterized by exceeding
virulence and acrimony.
In 1878 the Democratic party had
carried Ohio, and it was about the
first streak of dawn that had come to
the Democracy since the war. Old
Bill Allen had Hrisen up" and pointed
the way to victory. When he became
Governor 1t was a rest Grafton suggestive
of the days "when the king enjoyed
his own again." He had been elected
to Congress the year he was eligible,
and was chosen Senator the year he
was eligible. He had been a conspic-
uous member of both Houses when
mediocrity dared not show its head in
either House except to calculate staye"
and ssno'' upon roll calls. 1t was before
the days of "leave to print" and writ
ten essays, by courtesy called speeches.
In 1S4s he retired from Congress, and
remained in obscarity for quarter OF
q century, when the Democracy nomI-
mated and elected him Governor OF
Ohio. All eyes turned to him as the
Democratic Moses, and, but for an ac-
cldent, he would have been elected
President in 1876.
In 1874 political tidal wave swept
over the country, Massachusetts, Con-
necticut, New York, New Jersey, In
diana, Ohio, and the solid South went
Democratic by overwhelming majors
ties. Samuel j. Tilden, having de-
stroyed the Tweed ring, became Gov
ernor of the Empire State. A Repub-
lican majority of 70 In the Forty-Third
Congress was supplanted by Demo-
cratic majority of 80 in the Forty
Fourth Congress. Men who had been
prominent in the House of Representa-
tives for years lost their seats, among
the number being Ben Butler him
self.
Grant was President, and his adj,
ministration was exceedingly unpop-
ular. The Whispering trials had I'm.
earthed fraud and corruption that had
been traced directly to the White
House, and there was little in the
Presidents character to divert suspi-
ciop from himself. Sanborn contracts
and I.eet and Stockings administra-
ton of customs affairs on the Atlantic
seaboard had Disguised thousands OF
honest Republicans. In the South
carpet.baggism was only sustained by
bayonets, and in a few months the
country was to be startled by the im-
parchment of a member of the Cabinet
for petty bribery, his resignation and
his disgrace.
Such was the condition Of affairs
when the last session OF the Forty
Third Congress convened in December,
1874. Blaine was Speaker, standing
candidate for President and an enc my
of Grants administration. Butler was
Chairman of the famous Committee on
Reconstruction that freed the negro,
clothed him with the rights of citizen
shin and armed him with the ballot
a committee that ruled the seeding
States with rod of iron. The Demo-
orats formed small minority, though
a number sufficient to call the yeas aud
NAYS, and the whole session was con-
sumed in truitless roil.caus.
Butler pressed his bill with energy.
Had it become q law the result would
have been to place every one of the
reconstructed States in the power of
the President, and all their election
machinery in the control OF Federal
officials. Republican national con-
ventions would have contained dele-
gates from those States chosen by the
Administration at Washington. at
that time it was not contemplated that
Grant should have third term,
though the passage of the bill would
have made the nomination of Grant
inevitable. Conkliug was the favorite
OF the Administrations, and he was a
candidate. Morton was the favorite
OF the carpet-baggers. Blaine had no
strength in the South. He was fac
vorite in Maine, Pennsylvania and the
West. and if the Mulligan letters had
not been Published, he, and not Hayes,
would have been nominated in 1876.
Blaine was opposed to the force bill,
because he Is not nor was he ever, the
man to take hold at the hot end of the
poker and give his adversary the cold I
end when he could avoid it.
The leaders Of the minority during
that session were Kerr, Cox, Beck,
Randall, and Ediidge. During the
long weeks of tedious roll~calls they
relieved each other in making dilatory
motions. Sofas and chairs were often
filled with members fast asleep, who
were aroused upon every call of the